Cruising the farmers market in midsummer is like being a kid in a candy store. Glistening cherries, berries and feathery fronds of dill weed beckon from the stalls. And the intoxicating aroma of fresh basil is enough to induce unbridled enthusiasm and a shopping spree.

Of course, reality sets in later as your kitchen counters disappear under the bushels of zucchini, gallons of berries and lifetime supply of gloriously ripe heirloom tomatoes. Your lifetime, not theirs. What were you thinking? And what do you do with all that perishable lusciousness now?

MORE RECIPES

Cruising the farmers market in midsummer is like being a kid in a candy store. Here are tips and recipes for you to enjoy it more:

Fortunately, there is no better source for farm-to-fork inspiration than the farmers themselves, says Martha Holmberg, the author of "Fresh Food Nation: Simple, Seasonal Recipes from America's Farmers" (Taunton Press, $22.95). When the former editor of Fine Cooking magazine goes veggie-wild at her local farmers market in Portland, Ore., she often goes the gratin route.

The self-described "tomato addict" layers well-cooked, nearly caramelized onions, fresh rosemary and thyme with sliced potatoes, tomatoes and other summer vegetables. A drizzle of olive oil and a splash of chicken stock are all the dish needs before going in the oven. Tomato salads, of course, are a menu mainstay.

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But Holmberg was looking for new ideas when she began asking chef buddies, James Beard Foundation friends and food writers from across the country to nominate their favorite small farms. In the end, more than five dozen farms got involved in the recipe project, from California to Indiana, Arkansas, Alaska and Canada.

The result is an irresistible, wide-ranging compilation of favorite recipes from farmers and, in some cases, the chefs who covet their produce.

"Some were straightforward family recipes," Holmberg says. "There were a couple that were 'cheffy.' Some were super sophisticated and modern. It was all food we wanted to have for dinner."

Freewheelin' Farm in Santa Cruz, Calif. shared a Spring Pasta with Fava Beans and Green Garlic. The organic Mariquita Farm in Watsonville, Calif. contributed half a dozen recipes, some from farmer Andrew Griffin and his family -- an artichoke frittata, for example, and Roast Lamb with Wilted Escarole -- and others from chefs such as Nicole Krasinski, co-owner of San Francisco's State Bird Provisions, winner of a 2013 James Beard Award for the nation's best new restaurant. Krasinski contributed a recipe for Cocoa Custard with Roasted Strawberries and Rosemary Cream.

It's not a California-centric book, by any means. Snow's Bend Farm in Coker, Ala., shared a delicate Fresh Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Compote Drizzle that tastes even more heavenly than its angel food cousins. Filled with diced fresh berries, the buttermilk cake can be dressed up for dinner parties or go picnic-casual in cupcake form.

A deconstructed eggplant Parmesan recipe -- an ingenious parm-meets-caprese treatment -- hails from Cherry Grove Organic Farm in Princeton, N.J. And Lakewood, Ohio's Bay Branch Farm contributed a Greek-inspired grilled shrimp and barley dish that will send you scampering for the seafood stall as well as the veggie bins at the farmers market.

The latter, which includes a Greek salad mixture of tomatoes, cucumber, grilled scallions and fresh herbs, is one of Holmberg's favorites for summer dinner parties.

"You can have the salad-y part put together, then grill the shrimp and have the hot on the cool," she says. "That's the thing. (The produce) is just beautiful. The dish can't help but be beautiful."

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